What type of data is represented by a byte?

A byte is primarily recognized as a unit of digital information that consists of eight bits. Within the realm of computing, a byte can represent a string of characters, as it is commonly utilized in text encoding systems such as ASCII or UTF-8. Each character in these encoding schemes is assigned a unique binary number, which is stored as a byte.

The importance of a byte in representing a string of characters comes from its ability to accommodate the necessary information needed for various alphanumeric characters, including letters and symbols. For example, in ASCII encoding, the character 'A' is represented by the byte value 65 in decimal (01000001 in binary), demonstrating how bytes serve to encode textual data.

While it is true that bytes can also represent numerical values by interpreting them in different formats (like integers and floating-point numbers), the focus within this context is on its primary role in text handling where each character corresponds directly to bytes. Therefore, the correct association of a byte with a string of characters solidifies its fundamental role in data representation in computing.